Cook County News Herald

Down Memory Lane




10 Years Ago · April 9, 2001

The Schroeder Area Historical Society is getting serious about developing the heritage center which will be housed in the historical building which was originally the Stickney Store. In order to save some money, necessary interior demolition will be done by volunteers during the last two weekends of April.

Cleveland Cliffs Inc. was turned down in its attempts to buy LTV Steel Mining Co.’s taconite facilities along the North Shore and in Hoyt Lakes. LTV Steel Mining Co. permanently closed in January 2001, laying off almost 1,400 employees. Reasons given for the shutdown included poor pellet quality and the high cost to upgrade blast furnaces and other aging equipment. All of these forced LTV to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December. Cleveland-Cliffs had the first option to buy the company it has managed for the last several years. The agreement ended March 31, 2001. According to a spokesman, LTV decided not to honor the option and told Cliffs they were going to look for other interested buyers.

20 Years Ago · April 8, 1991

A public information meeting on air pollution that will be allowed from the reopening of the LTV Steel Mining Company’s electrical generating plant at Taconite Harbor will be held April 17 at the Schroeder Town Hall. The plant, which has three 75-megawatt steam turbine generators, has been shut down since June 1982. The steam is produced by burning coal. Already the proposed reopening has drawn opposition from environmentalists.

The Public Utilities Commission met March 28 to consider whether to have a “second opinion” engineering firm oversee construction of the Grand Marais Water Treatment plant. The estimated $575,000 construction project is scheduled to begin this summer. Including administrative costs, the project will run well over $600,000. The PUC has a reserve of $518,000 set aside for the project.

50 Years Ago · April 6, 1961

The new veneer plant is about set to produce veneer. First announced last November when a series of meetings was held locally, the plant has advanced to the point where it has produced some veneer on an experimental basis and is about ready to go. Owned by Lloyd K. Johnson, the first step was to construct the 60 by 200-foot building west of the Rosebush Creek about 3 ½ miles out of town.

Quick action on the part of the Erie Mining Fire Department Monday night prevented the Kenneth Skoog house in Tofte from burning. The neighbors helped as well, gathering at 10:45 p.m. to empty the house in a matter of minutes. The fire was found to have originated by an overheated gas furnace, but luckily remained confined to the cold air return ducts. The whole house, however, was filled with smoke.

Thoughtless boys chopped down a number of trees on the Point and built a log-cabin type shack there. The destruction of the trees was at the eastern end of the Point in the thick growth. Several larger trees had been chopped, but not felled. The Point is government property. Authorities are checking into the matter.

90 Years Ago · April 7, 1921

The village council has adopted the following ordinance: Whereas with the approach of spring the winter’s accumulation of garbage in back yards and other places become eyesores and a menace to the health of the community, be it resolved that all the people of the village be urged to join in a general clean-up. And people are particularly warned against using the streets in front of their premises for storage purposes and dumping grounds….. Clean, attractive yards help to make a village beautiful. A little timely attention by each to his own premises will present a village beautiful to the hundreds of tourist visitors here this summer.

The electric lighting plant was brought over land last week on trucks. A contract was let at $100 to haul the equipment from Duluth, and the trucks had a hard time to get through and lost money on the contract. The machinery is being installed in V.N. Johnson’s building and in a short time will be in operation. The foundation for the engine is now being built.

Baseball will be the rage again when the field is a little drier. However, marbles are at the height of popularity just now.



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